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{{other uses}}{{Redirect2|Hindoo|Hindus|the racehorse|Hindus (horse)|other uses|Hindoo (disambiguation)}}{{distinguish|Hindi}}{{pp-semi-indef}}{{pp-move-indef}}{{Use Indian English|date=July 2016}}{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2015}}{{Hinduism}}{{Hinduism by country}}{{Short description|Adherent of Hinduism}}Hindu ({{Audio|hi-Hindu.ogg|pronunciation}}) refers to any person who regards themselves as culturally, ethnically, or religiously adhering to aspects of Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, {{ISBN|978-1845112738}}, pages 35-37BOOK, Lloyd Ridgeon, Major World Religions: From Their Origins To The Present,weblink 2003, Routledge, 978-1-134-42935-6, 10â11, , Quote: "It is often said that Hinduism is very ancient, and in a sense this is true (...). It was formed by adding the English suffix -ism, of Greek origin, to the word Hindu, of Persian origin; it was about the same time that the word Hindu, without the suffix -ism, came to be used mainly as a religious term. (...) The name Hindu was first a geographical name, not a religious one, and it originated in the languages of Iran, not of India. (...) They referred to the non-Muslim majority, together with their culture, as 'Hindu'. (...) Since the people called Hindu differed from Muslims most notably in religion, the word came to have religious implications, and to denote a group of people who were identifiable by their Hindu religion. (...) However, it is a religious term that the word Hindu is now used in English, and Hinduism is the name of a religion, although, as we have seen, we should beware of any false impression of uniformity that this might give us." It has historically been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for people indigenous to the Indian subcontinent.BOOK, David N. Lorenzen, David Lorenzen, Who Invented Hinduism: Essays on Religion in History,weblink 2006, Yoda, 978-81-902272-6-1, xx, 2, 13â26, The historical meaning of the term Hindu has evolved with time. Starting with the Persian and Greek references to the land of the Indus in the 1st millennium BCE through the texts of the medieval era,{{sfn|Flood|1996|p=6}} the term Hindu implied a geographic, ethnic or cultural identifier for people living in the Indian subcontinent around or beyond the Sindhu (Indus) river.{{citation|last1=Hawley|first1=John Stratton|last2=Narayanan|first2=Vasudha|title=The Life of Hinduism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9hairjdT-ekC&pg=PA10|year=2006|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-24914-1|pages=10â11}} By the 16th century, the term began to refer to residents of the subcontinent who were not Turkic or Muslims.{{Efn|{{harvtxt|Flood|1996|p=6}} adds: "(...) 'Hindu', or 'Hindoo', was used towards the end of the eighteenth century by the British to refer to the people of 'Hindustan', the people of northwest India. Eventually 'Hindu' became virtually equivalent to an 'Indian' who was not a Muslim, Sikh, Jain or Christian, thereby encompassing a range of religious beliefs and practices. The '-ism' was added to Hindu in around 1830 to denote the culture and religion of the high-caste Brahmans in contrast to other religions, and the term was soon appropriated by Indians themselves in the context of building a national identity opposed to colonialism, though the term 'Hindu' was used in Sanskrit and Bengali hagiographic texts in contrast to 'Yavana' or Muslim as early as the sixteenth century".}}{{Efn|{{harvtxt|von Stietencron|2005|p=229}}: For more than 100 years the word Hindu (plural) continued to denote the Indians in general. But when, from AD 712 onwards, Muslims began to settle permanently in the Indus valley and to make converts among low-caste Hindus, Persian authors distinguished between Hindus and Muslims in India: Hindus were Indians other than Muslim. We know that Persian scholars were able to distinguish a number of religions among the Hindus. But when Europeans started to use the term Hindoo, they applied it to the non-Muslim masses of India without those scholarly differentiations.}}The historical development of Hindu self-identity within the local South Asian population, in a religious or cultural sense, is unclear.{{harvnb|Lorenzen|2006|pp=24â33}} Competing theories state that Hindu identity developed in the British colonial era, or that it developed post-8th century CE after the Islamic invasion and medieval Hindu-Muslim wars. A sense of Hindu identity and the term Hindu appears in some texts dated between the 13th and 18th century in Sanskrit and regional languages.JOURNAL, The Word 'Hindu' in Gauá¸Ä«ya Vaiá¹£á¹ava Texts, O'Connell, Joseph T., JulyâSeptember 1973, Journal of the American Oriental Society, 93, 3, 340â344, 10.2307/599467, 599467, The 14th- and 18th-century Indian poets such as Vidyapati, Kabir and Eknath used the phrase Hindu dharma (Hinduism) and contrasted it with Turaka dharma (Islam).{{sfn|Lorenzen|2006}} The Christian friar Sebastiao Manrique used the term 'Hindu' in religious context in 1649.{{sfn|Lorenzen|2006|p=15}} In the 18th century, the European merchants and colonists began to refer to the followers of Indian religions collectively as Hindus, in contrast to Mohamedans for Mughals and Arabs following Islam. By the mid-19th century, colonial orientalist texts further distinguished Hindus from Buddhists, Sikhs and Jains, but the colonial laws continued to consider all of them to be within the scope of the term Hindu until about mid-20th century. Scholars state that the custom of distinguishing between Hindus, Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs is a modern phenomenon. Hindoo is an archaic spelling variant, whose use today may be considered derogatory.{{Citation|last=Herbst|first=Philip|title=The color of words: an encyclopaedic dictionary of ethnic bias in the United States|publisher=Intercultural Press|year=1997|isbn=978-1-877864-97-1|pp=106â107|quote= "Hindu, Hindoo A term borrowed from the Persian word Hindu ... Hindu is used today for an adherent of Hinduism, the common religion of India. ... Hindoo is listed in dictionaries as a variant spelling, but it is one that may lend itself to derogatory use."}};{{Citation|last=Dasgupta|first=Shamita Das|authorlink=Shamita Das Dasgupta|title=A patchwork shawl: chronicles of South Asian women in America|publisher=Rutgers University Press|year=1998|isbn=0-8135-2518-7| p=121| quote= "I faced repeated and constant racial slurs at school, from "nigger" to "injun" to "Hindoo." I, as one of the few children of color, was the equal opportunity target."}};{{Citation|last=University of South Dakota|first=English Department|journal=South Dakota Review|title=link to article|publisher=University of South Dakota|year=1989|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gXs7AQAAIAAJ&q=hindoo#search_anchor| p = 27| quote = "On the streets, too, simple slur words like "Hindoo" and "Paki" â used almost with impunity in the seventies â underscore how language includes or excludes."}}{{Citation|last=Rosenblatt|first=Roger|authorlink=Roger Rosenblatt|title=Consuming desires: consumption, culture, and the pursuit of happiness|publisher=Island Press|year=1999|isbn=1-55963-535-5|p=81| quote = "For example, even though the majority of these newcomers were, in fact, practicing Hindus, by the mid-1960s, anti-immigration agitators had dropped the use of Hindoo as choice slur."}};{{Citation|last1=Bhatia|first1=Sunil|last2=Ram|first2=Anjali|journal=Mind, Culture, and Activity|volume=11|issue=3|pages=224â240|year=2004|title=Culture, hybridity, and the dialogical self: Cases of the South Asian diaspora|doi=10.1207/s15327884mca1103_4| quote = "Not being able to live up to the 'unattainable' images of 'Charlie's Angels' and the golden-girls of 'The Brady Bunch,' and facing 'repeated and constant' racial slurs at school such as 'nigger,' 'injun,' and 'hindoo,' combined with a lack of role models ..."}};{{Citation|last=Yule|first=Valerie|authorlink=Valerie Yule|title=Children's dictionaries: spelling and pronunciation|journal=English Today|year=1989|volume=5|issue=1|pages=13â17|doi=10.1017/S0266078400003655|quote = "I suspect the answer may be the long tradition of using that sort of 'simplified spelling' to indicate the speech of vulgar and low types of people. Nevertheless, there is a sort of visual onomatopoeia; a Hindu has dignity, while a Hindoo seems slightly ridiculous."}}.At more than 1.03 billion,Hindu Population projections Pew Research (2015), Washington DC Hindus are the world's third largest group after Christians and Muslims. The vast majority of Hindus, approximately 966 million, live in India, according to India's 2011 census.Rukmini S Vijaita Singh Muslim population growth slows The Hindu, August 25, 2015; 79.8% of more than 121 crore Indians (as per 2011 census) are Hindus After India, the next 9 countries with the largest Hindu populations are, in decreasing order: Nepal, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, United States, Malaysia, United Kingdom and Myanmar.10 Countries With the Largest Hindu Populations, 2010 and 2050 Pew Research Center (2015), Washington DC These together accounted for 99% of the world's Hindu population, and the remaining nations of the world together had about 6 million Hindus in 2010.

Etymology

(File:A Hindu wedding ritual in progress b.jpg|thumb|upright=1.05|A Hindu wedding ritual in India){{further information|Hinduism}}The word Hindu is derived from the Indo-Aryan{{sfn|Flood|2008|p=3}} and Sanskrit{{sfn|Flood|2008|p=3}}{{sfn|Flood|1996|p=6}} word Sindhu, which means "a large body of water", covering "river, ocean".{{citation |last1=Takacs |first1=Sarolta Anna |last2=Cline |first2=Eric H. |title=The Ancient World |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SPcvCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA377 |date=17 July 2015 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-45839-5 |pages=377â}}{{efn|{{harvtxt|Flood|2008|p=3}}: The Indo-Aryan word Sindhu means "river", "ocean".}} It was used as the name of the Indus river and also referred to its tributaries. The actual term '{{not a typo|hindu}}' first occurs, states Gavin Flood, as "a Persian geographical term for the people who lived beyond the river Indus (Sanskrit: Sindhu)",{{sfn|Flood|1996|p=6}} more specifically in the 6th-century BCE inscription of Darius I. The Punjab region, called Sapta Sindhu in the Vedas, is called Hapta Hindu in Zend Avesta. The 6th-century BCE inscription of Darius I mentions the province of Hi[n]dush, referring to northwestern India.{{citation |last=Sharma |first=Arvind |authorlink=Arvind Sharma |title=On Hindu, HindustÄn, Hinduism and Hindutva |journal=Numen |publisher=Brill |volume=49 |number=1 |year=2002 |pp=1â36 |JSTOR=3270470 |doi=10.1163/15685270252772759}}{{sfn|Thapar|2003|p=38}}{{sfn|Jha|2009|p=15}} The people of India were referred to as HinduvÄn (Hindus) and hindavÄ« was used as the adjective for Indian in the 8th century text Chachnama.{{sfn|Jha|2009|p=15}} The term 'Hindu' in these ancient records is an ethno-geographical term and did not refer to a religion.{{sfn|Flood|1996|p=6}}{{sfn|Jha|2009|p=16}} The Arabic equivalent Al-Hind likewise referred to the country of India.{{sfn|Thapar|2003|p=8}}{{multiple image

Among the earliest known records of 'Hindu' with connotations of religion may be in the 7th-century CE Chinese text Record of the Western Regions by the Buddhist scholar Xuanzang. Xuanzang uses the transliterated term In-tu whose "connotation overflows in the religious" according to Arvind Sharma. While Xuanzang suggested that the term refers to the country named after the moon, another Buddhist scholar I-tsing contradicted the conclusion saying that In-tu was not a common name for the country.{{sfn|Jha|2009|p=15}}Al-Biruni's 11th-century text Tarikh Al-Hind, and the texts of the Delhi Sultanate period use the term 'Hindu', where it includes all non-Islamic people such as Buddhists, and retains the ambiguity of being "a region or a religion". The 'Hindu' community occurs as the amorphous 'Other' of the Muslim community in the court chronicles, according to Romila Thapar.{{citation |last=Thapar |first=Romila |authorlink=Romila Thapar |date=SeptemberâOctober 1996 |title=The Tyranny of Labels |journal=Social Scientist |volume=24 |number=9/10 |pp=3â23 |JSTOR=3520140 |doi=10.2307/3520140}} Wilfred Cantwell Smith notes that 'Hindu' retained its geographical reference initially: 'Indian', 'indigenous, local', virtually 'native'. Slowly, the Indian groups themselves started using the term, differentiating themselves and their "traditional ways" from those of the invaders.{{sfn|Wilfred Cantwell Smith|1981|p=62}}The text Prithviraj Raso, by Chanda Baradai, about the 1192 CE defeat of Prithviraj Chauhan at the hands of Muhammad Ghori, is full of references to "Hindus" and "Turks", and at one stage, says "both the religions have drawn their curved swords;" however, the date of this text is unclear and considered by most scholars to be more recent.{{sfn|Lorenzen|2006|p=33}} In Islamic literature, 'Abd al-Malik Isami's Persian work, Futuhu's-salatin, composed in the Deccan in 1350, uses the word {{'}}{{not a typo|hindi}}' to mean Indian in the ethno-geographical sense and the word {{'}}{{not a typo|hindu}}' to mean 'Hindu' in the sense of a follower of the Hindu religion".{{sfn|Lorenzen|2006|p=33}} The poet Vidyapati's poem Kirtilata contrasts the cultures of Hindus and Turks (Muslims) in a city and concludes "The Hindus and the Turks live close together; Each makes fun of the other's religion (dhamme)."{{sfn|Lorenzen|2006|p=31}} One of the earliest uses of word 'Hindu' in religious context in a European language (Spanish), was the publication in 1649 by Sebastiao Manrique.{{sfn|Lorenzen|2006|p=15}}Other prominent mentions of 'Hindu' include the epigraphical inscriptions from Andhra Pradesh kingdoms who battled military expansion of Muslim dynasties in the 14th century, where the word 'Hindu' partly implies a religious identity in contrast to 'Turks' or Islamic religious identity.{{sfn|Lorenzen|2006|pp=32-33}} The term Hindu was later used occasionally in some Sanskrit texts such as the later Rajataranginis of Kashmir (Hinduka, c. 1450) and some 16th- to 18th-century BengaliGaudiya Vaishnava texts, including Chaitanya Charitamrita and Chaitanya Bhagavata. These texts used it to contrast Hindus from Muslims who are called Yavanas (foreigners) or Mlecchas (barbarians), with the 16th-century Chaitanya Charitamrita text and the 17th-century Bhakta Mala text using the phrase "Hindu dharma".

Terminology

Medieval-era usage (8th to 18th century)

One of the earliest but ambiguous uses of the word Hindu is, states Arvind Sharma, in the 'Brahmanabad settlement' which Muhammad ibn Qasim made with non-Muslims after the Arab invasion of northwestern Sindh region of India, in 712 CE. The term 'Hindu' meant people who were non-Muslims, and it included Buddhists of the region.Arvind Sharma (2002), On Hindu, HindustÄn, Hinduism and Hindutva Numen, Vol. 49, Fasc. 1, pages 5-9 In the 11th-century text of Al Biruni, Hindus are referred to as "religious antagonists" to Islam, as those who believe in rebirth, presents them to hold a diversity of beliefs, and seems to oscillate between Hindus holding a centralist and pluralist religious views. In the texts of Delhi Sultanate era, states Sharma, the term Hindu remains ambiguous on whether it means people of a region or religion, giving the example of Ibn Battuta's explanation of the name "Hindu Kush" for a mountain range in Afghanistan. It was so called, wrote Ibn Battuta, because many Indian slaves died there of snow cold, as they were marched across that mountain range. The term Hindu there is ambivalent and could mean geographical region or religion.Arvind Sharma (2002), On Hindu, HindustÄn, Hinduism, and Hindutva Numen, Vol. 49, Fasc. 1, page 9The term Hindu appears in the texts from the Mughal Empire era. It broadly refers to non-Muslims. Pashaura Singh states, "in Persian writings, Sikhs were regarded as Hindu in the sense of non-Muslim Indians".Pashaura Singh (2005), Understanding the Martyrdom of Guru Arjan, Journal of Punjab Studies, 12(1), page 37 Jahangir, for example, called the Sikh Guru Arjan a Hindu:Pashaura Singh (2005), Understanding the Martyrdom of Guru Arjan, Journal of Punjab Studies, 12(1), pages 29-31, page 59{{efn

Khusrau Mirza>Khusrau, Jahangir son, mounted a challenge to the emperor within the first year of his reign. The rebellion was put down and all the collaborators executed. (Pashaura Singh, 2005, pp. 31-34)}}}}

During the colonial era, the term Hindu had connotations of native religions of India, that is religions other than Christianity and Islam.Gauri Viswanathan (1998), Outside the Fold: Conversion, Modernity, and Belief, Princeton University Press, {{ISBN|978-0691058993}}, page 78 In early colonial era Anglo-Hindu laws and British India court system, the term Hindu referred to people of all Indian religions and two non-Indian religions:The 20th-century colonial laws of British India segregated people's rights by their religion, evolving to provide Muslims with Sharia law, Christians, Jews and Parsis of British India with their own religious laws. The British government created a compendium of religious laws for Hindus, and the term 'Hindu' in these colonial 'Hindu laws', decades before India's independence, applied to Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs.Rachel Sturman (2010), Hinduism and Law: An Introduction (Editors: Timothy Lubin et al), Cambridge University Press, {{ISBN|978-0521716260}}, pages 90-96Beyond the stipulations of British law, colonial orientalists and particularly the influential Asiatick Researches founded in the 18th century, later called The Asiatic Society, initially identified just two religions in India â Islam, and Hinduism. These orientalists included all Indian religions such as Buddhism as a subgroup of Hinduism in the 18th century.{{citation|last=Pennington|first=Brian K.|title=Was Hinduism Invented?: Britons, Indians, and the Colonial Construction of Religion|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7drluePK-acC&pg=PA111|year=2005|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-803729-3|pages=111-118}} These texts called followers of Islam as Mohamedans, and all others as Hindus. The text, by the early 19th century, began dividing Hindus into separate groups, for chronology studies of the various beliefs. Among the earliest terms to emerge were Seeks and their College (later spelled Sikhs by Charles Wilkins), Boudhism (later spelled Buddhism), and in the 9th volume of Asiatick Researches report on religions in India, the term Jainism received notice.According to Pennington, the terms Hindu and Hinduism were thus constructed for colonial studies of India. The various sub-divisions and separation of subgroup terms were assumed to be result of "communal conflict", and Hindu was constructed by these orientalists to imply people who adhered to "ancient default oppressive religious substratum of India", states Pennington. Followers of other Indian religions so identified were later referred Buddhists, Sikhs or Jains and distinguished from Hindus, in an antagonistic two-dimensional manner, with Hindus and Hinduism stereotyped as irrational traditional and others as rational reform religions. However, these mid-19th-century reports offered no indication of doctrinal or ritual differences between Hindu and Buddhist, or other newly constructed religious identities. These colonial studies, states Pennigton, "puzzled endlessly about the Hindus and intensely scrutinized them, but did not interrogate and avoided reporting the practices and religion of Mughal and Arabs in South Asia", and often relied on Muslim scholars to characterise Hindus.

Contemporary usage

File:HinduDevoteeNepal.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|A young Nepali Hindu devotee during a traditional prayer ceremony at Kathmandu's Durbar SquareDurbar SquareIn contemporary era, the term Hindus are individuals who identify with one or more aspects of Hinduism, whether they are practising or non-practicing or Laissez-faire.Bryan Turner (2010), The New Blackwell Companion to the Sociology of Religion, John Wiley & Sons, {{ISBN|978-1405188524}}, pages 424-425 The term does not include those who identify with other Indian religions such as Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism or various animist tribal religions found in India such as Sarnaism.James Minahan (2012), Ethnic Groups of South Asia and the Pacific: An Encyclopedia, {{ISBN|978-1598846591}}, pages 97-99 The term Hindu, in contemporary parlance, includes people who accept themselves as culturally or ethnically Hindu rather than with a fixed set of religious beliefs within Hinduism. One need not be religious in the minimal sense, states Julius Lipner, to be accepted as Hindu by Hindus, or to describe oneself as Hindu.Julius J. Lipner (2009), Hindus: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices, 2nd Edition, Routledge, {{ISBN|978-0415456777}}, page 8Hindus subscribe to a diversity of ideas on spirituality and traditions, but have no ecclesiastical order, no unquestionable religious authorities, no governing body, nor a single founding prophet; Hindus can choose to be polytheistic, pantheistic, monotheistic, monistic, agnostic, atheistic or humanist.Julius J. Lipner (2009), Hindus: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices, 2nd Edition, Routledge, {{ISBN|978-0-415-45677-7}}, page 8; Quote: "(...) one need not be religious in the minimal sense described to be accepted as a Hindu by Hindus, or describe oneself perfectly validly as Hindu. One may be polytheistic or monotheistic, monistic or pantheistic, even an agnostic, humanist or atheist, and still be considered a Hindu."Lester Kurtz (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Violence, Peace and Conflict, {{ISBN|978-0123695031}}, Academic Press, 2008MK Gandhi, The Essence of Hinduism, Editor: VB Kher, Navajivan Publishing, see page 3; According to Gandhi, "a man may not believe in God and still call himself a Hindu." Because of the wide range of traditions and ideas covered by the term Hinduism, arriving at a comprehensive definition is difficult.{{sfn|Flood|1996|p=6}} The religion "defies our desire to define and categorize it".BOOK, Hinduism: A Very Short Introduction, Knott, Kim, 1998, Oxford University press, Oxford, 978-0-19-285387-5, 117, A Hindu may, by his or her choice, draw upon ideas of other Indian or non-Indian religious thought as a resource, follow or evolve his or her personal beliefs, and still identify as a Hindu.In 1995, Chief Justice P. B. Gajendragadkar was quoted in an Indian Supreme Court ruling:Supreme Court of India, weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20061030015441weblink">"Bramchari Sidheswar Shai and others Versus State of West Bengal", 1995, Archive2 Archived from the original {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061030015441weblink |date=30 October 2006 }}.Supreme Court of India 1966 AIR 1119, Sastri Yagnapurushadji vs Muldas Brudardas Vaishya {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140512221716weblink |date=12 May 2014 }} (pdf), page 15, 14 January 1966

When we think of the Hindu religion, unlike other religions in the world, the Hindu religion does not claim any one prophet; it does not worship any one god; it does not subscribe to any one dogma; it does not believe in any one philosophic concept; it does not follow any one set of religious rites or performances; in fact, it does not appear to satisfy the narrow traditional features of any religion or creed. It may broadly be described as a way of life and nothing more.

Although Hinduism contains a broad range of philosophies, Hindus share philosophical concepts, such as but not limiting to dharma, karma, kama, artha, moksha and samsara, even if each subscribes to a diversity of views. Hindus also have shared texts such as the Vedas with embedded Upanishads, and common ritual grammar (Sanskara (rite of passage)) such as rituals during a wedding or when a baby is born or cremation rituals.Carl Olson (2007), The Many Colors of Hinduism: A Thematic-historical Introduction, Rutgers University Press, {{ISBN|978-0813540689}}, pages 93-94Rajbali Pandey (2013), Hindu Saá¹skÄras: Socio-religious Study of the Hindu Sacraments, 2nd Edition, Motilal Banarsidass, {{ISBN|978-8120803961}}, pages 15-36 Some Hindus go on pilgrimage to shared sites they consider spiritually significant, practice one or more forms of bhakti or puja, celebrate mythology and epics, major festivals, love and respect for guru and family, and other cultural traditions.BOOK, Frazier, Jessica, The Continuum companion to Hindu studies, 2011, Continuum, London, 978-0-8264-9966-0, 1â15, Flood, Gavin, "Establishing the boundaries" in Flood (2003), pp. 1-17. A Hindu could:

follow any of the Hindu schools of philosophy, such as Advaita (non-dualism), Vishishtadvaita (non-dualism of the qualified whole), Dvaita (dualism), Dvaitadvaita (dualism with non-dualism), etc.Muller, F. Max. Six Systems of Indian Philosophy; Samkhya and Yoga; Naya and Vaiseshika. 1899. This classic work helped to establish the major classification systems as we know them today. Reprint edition: (Kessinger Publishing: February 2003) {{ISBN|978-0-7661-4296-1}}.BOOK, Radhakrishnan, S., Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, Moore, CA, A Sourcebook in Indian Philosophy, 1967, Princeton, 0-691-01958-4, harv,

follow a tradition centred on any particular form of the Divine, such as Shaivism, Vaishnavism, Shaktism, etc.BOOK, Tattwananda, Swami, Vaisnava Sects, Saiva Sects, Mother Worship, 1984, Firma KLM Private Ltd., Calcutta, First revised, harv, This work gives an overview of many different subsets of the three main religious groups in India.

practice any one of the various forms of yoga systems in order to achieve moksha â that is freedom in current life (jivanmukti) or salvation in after-life (videhamukti);TS Rukmani (2008), Theory and Practice of Yoga (Editor: Knut Jacobsen), Motilal Banarsidass, {{ISBN|978-8120832329}}, pages 61-74

practice bhakti or puja for spiritual reasons, which may be directed to one's guru or to a divine image.Jeaneane Fowler (1996), Hinduism: Beliefs and Practices, Sussex Academic Press, {{ISBN|978-1898723608}}, pages 41-44 A visible public form of this practice is worship before an idol or statue. Jeaneane Fowler states that non-Hindu observers often confuse this practice as "stone or idol-worship and nothing beyond it", while for many Hindus, it is an image which represents or is symbolic manifestation of a spiritual Absolute (Brahman). This practice may focus on a metal or stone statue, or a photographic image, or a linga, or any object or tree (pipal) or animal (cow) or tools of one's profession, or sunrise or expression of nature or to nothing at all, and the practice may involve meditation, japa, offerings or songs.Stella Kramrisch (1958), Traditions of the Indian Craftsman, The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 71, No. 281, pages 224-230 Inden states that this practice means different things to different Hindus, and has been misunderstood, misrepresented as idolatry, and various rationalisations have been constructed by both Western and native Indologists.Ronald Inden (2001), Imagining India, Indiana University Press, {{ISBN|978-0253213587}}, pages 110-115

Disputes

In the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" has been used in some places to denote persons professing any of these religions: Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism or Sikhism.India-Constitution:Religious rights Article 25:"Explanation II: In sub-Clause (b) of clause (2), the reference to Hindus shall be construed as including a reference to persons professing the Sikh, Jaina or Buddhist religion" This however has been challenged by the SikhsBOOK, Martin E. Marty, Fundamentalisms and the State: Remaking Polities, Economies, and Militance,weblink 1 July 1996, University of Chicago Press, 978-0-226-50884-9, 270â271, BOOK, Tanweer Fazal, "Nation-state" and Minority Rights in India: Comparative Perspectives on Muslim and Sikh Identities,weblink 1 August 2014, Routledge, 978-1-317-75179-3, 20, 112â114, and by neo-Buddhists who were formerly Hindus.BOOK, Kevin Boyle, Juliet Sheen, Freedom of Religion and Belief: A World Report,weblink 7 March 2013, Routledge, 978-1-134-72229-7, 191â192, According to Sheen and Boyle, Jains have not objected to being covered by personal laws termed under 'Hindu', but Indian courts have acknowledged that Jainism is a distinct religion.para 25, Committee of Management Kanya Junior High School Bal Vidya Mandir, Etah, Uttar Pradesh v. Sachiv, U.P. Basic Shiksha Parishad, Allahabad, U.P. and Ors., Per Dalveer Bhandari J., Civil Appeal No. 9595 of 2003, decided On: 21 August 2006, Supreme Court of IndiaThe Republic of India is in the peculiar situation that the Supreme Court of India has repeatedly been called upon to define "Hinduism" because the Constitution of India, while it prohibits "discrimination of any citizen" on grounds of religion in article 15, article 30 foresees special rights for "All minorities, whether based on religion or language". As a consequence, religious groups have an interest in being recognised as distinct from the Hindu majority in order to qualify as a "religious minority". Thus, the Supreme Court was forced to consider the question whether Jainism is part of Hinduism in 2005 and 2006.

History of Hindu identity

Starting after the 10th century and particularly after the 12th century Islamic invasion, states Sheldon Pollock, the political response fused with the Indic religious culture and doctrines.Sheldon Pollock (1993), RÄmÄyaá¹a and political imagination in India, Journal of Asian studies, Vol. 52, No. 2, pages 266-269 Temples dedicated to deity Rama were built from north to south India, and textual records as well as hagiographic inscriptions began comparing the Hindu epic of Ramayana to regional kings and their response to Islamic attacks. The Yadava king of Devagiri named Ramacandra, for example states Pollock, is described in a 13th-century record as, "How is this Rama to be described.. who freed Varanasi from the mleccha (barbarian, Turk Muslim) horde, and built there a golden temple of Sarngadhara". Pollock notes that the Yadava king Ramacandra is described as a devotee of deity Shiva (Shaivism), yet his political achievements and temple construction sponsorship in Varanasi, far from his kingdom's location in the Deccan region, is described in the historical records in Vaishnavism terms of Rama, a deity Vishnu avatar. Pollock presents many such examples and suggests an emerging Hindu political identity that was grounded in the Hindu religious text of Ramayana, one that has continued into the modern times, and suggests that this historic process began with the arrival of Islam in India.Sheldon Pollock (1993), RÄmÄyaá¹a and political imagination in India, Journal of Asian studies, Vol. 52, No. 2, pages 261-297Brajadulal Chattopadhyaya has questioned the Pollock theory and presented textual and inscriptional evidence. According to Chattopadhyaya, the Hindu identity and religious response to Islamic invasion and wars developed in different kingdoms, such as wars between Islamic Sultanates and the Vijayanagara kingdom (Karnataka), and Islamic raids on the kingdoms in Tamil Nadu. These wars were described not just using the mythical story of Rama from Ramayana, states Chattopadhyaya, the medieval records used a wide range of religious symbolism and myths that are now considered as part of Hindu literature.Brajadulal Chattopadhyaya (1998), Representing the other?: Sanskrit sources and the Muslims (eighth to fourteenth century), Manohar Publications, {{ISBN|978-8173042522}}, pages 92-103, Chapter 1 and 2Brajadulal Chattopadhyaya (2004), Other or the Others? in The World in the Year 1000 (Editors: James Heitzman, Wolfgang Schenkluhn), University Press of America, {{ISBN|978-0761825616}}, pages 303-323 This emergence of religious with political terminology began with the first Muslim invasion of Sindh in the 8th century CE, and intensified 13th century onwards. The 14th-century Sanskrit text, Madhuravijayam, a memoir written by Gangadevi, the wife of Vijayanagara prince, for example describes the consequences of war using religious terms,, pages 303-319The Kali age now deserves deepest congratulations for being at the zenith of its power,gone is the sacred learning, hidden is refinement, hushed is the voice of Dharma.

The World in the Year 1000 (Editors: James Heitzman, Wolfgang Schenkluhn), University Press of America, {{ISBN>978-0761825616}}, pages 306-307}}The historiographic writings in Telugu language from the 13th- and 14th-century Kakatiya dynasty period presents a similar "alien other (Turk)" and "self-identity (Hindu)" contrast.Cynthia Talbot (2000), Beyond Turk and Hindu: Rethinking Religious Identities in Islamicate South Asia (Editors: David Gilmartin, Bruce B. Lawrence), University Press of Florida, {{ISBN|978-0813024875}}, pages 291-294 Chattopadhyaya, and other scholars,Cynthia Talbot (1995), Inscribing the other, inscribing the self: Hindu-Muslim identities in pre-colonial India, Comparative studies in Society and History, Vol. 37, No. 4, pages 701-706 state that the military and political campaign during the medieval era wars in Deccan peninsula of India, and in the north India, were no longer a quest for sovereignty, they embodied a political and religious animosity against the "otherness of Islam", and this began the historical process of Hindu identity formation.{{Efn|David Lorenzen (2010): "When it comes to early sources written in Indian languages (and also Persian and Arabic), the word 'Hindu' is used in a clearly religious sense in a great number of texts at least as early as the sixteenth century. (...) Although al-Biruni's original Arabic text only uses a term equivalent to the religion of the people of India, his description of Hindu religion is in fact remarkably similar to those of nineteenth-century European orientalists. For his part Vidyapati, in his Apabhransha text Kirtilata, makes use of the phrase 'Hindu and Turk dharmas' in a clearly religious sense and highlights the local conflicts between the two communities. In the early sixteenth century texts attributed to Kabir, the references to 'Hindus' and to 'Turks' or 'Muslims' (musalamans) in a clearly religious context are numerous and unambiguous."David Lorenzen (2010), Rethinking Religion in India: The Colonial Construction of Hinduism (Editors: Esther Bloch et al), Routledge, {{ISBN|978-0415548908}}, page 29}}Andrew Nicholson, in his review of scholarship on Hindu identity history, states that the vernacular literature of Bhakti movement sants from 15th to 17th century, such as Kabir, Anantadas, Eknath, Vidyapati, suggests that distinct religious identities, between Hindus and Turks (Muslims), had formed during these centuries. The poetry of this period contrasts Hindu and Islamic identities, states Nicholson, and the literature vilifies the Muslims coupled with a "distinct sense of a Hindu religious identity".Andrew Nicholson (2013), Unifying Hinduism: Philosophy and Identity in Indian Intellectual History, Columbia University Press, {{ISBN|978-0231149877}}, pages 198-199

Scholars state that Hindu, Buddhist and Jain identities are retrospectively-introduced modern constructions. Inscriptional evidence from the 8th century onwards, in regions such as South India, suggests that medieval era India, at both elite and folk religious practices level, likely had a "shared religious culture",Leslie Orr (2014), Donors, Devotees, and Daughters of God, Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|978-0195356724}}, pages 25-26, 204 and their collective identities were "multiple, layered and fuzzy".Leslie Orr (2014), Donors, Devotees, and Daughters of God, Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|978-0195356724}}, pages 42, 204 Even among Hinduism denominations such as Shaivism and Vaishnavism, the Hindu identities, states Leslie Orr, lacked "firm definitions and clear boundaries".Overlaps in Jain-Hindu identities have included Jains worshipping Hindu deities, intermarriages between Jains and Hindus, and medieval era Jain temples featuring Hindu religious icons and sculpture.Paul Dundas (2002), The Jains, 2nd Edition, Routledge, {{ISBN|978-0415266055}}, pages 6-10K Reddy (2011), Indian History, Tata McGraw Hill, {{ISBN|978-0071329231}}, page 93Margaret Allen (1992), Ornament in Indian Architecture, University of Delaware Press, {{ISBN|978-0874133998}}, page 211 Beyond India, on Java island of Indonesia, historical records attest to marriages between Hindus and Buddhists, medieval era temple architecture and sculptures that simultaneously incorporate Hindu and Buddhist themes,Trudy King et al (1996), Historic Places: Asia and Oceania, Routledge, {{ISBN|978-1884964046}}, page 692 where Hinduism and Buddhism merged and functioned as "two separate paths within one overall system", according to Ann Kenney and other scholars.Ann Kenney et al (2003), Worshiping Siva and Buddha: The Temple Art of East Java, University of Hawaii Press, {{ISBN|978-0824827793}}, pages 24-25 Similarly, there is an organic relation of Sikhs to Hindus, states Zaehner, both in religious thought and their communities, and virtually all Sikhs' ancestors were Hindus. Marriages between Sikhs and Hindus, particularly among Khatris, were frequent. Some Hindu families brought up a son as a Sikh, and some Hindus view Sikhism as a tradition within Hinduism, even though the Sikh faith is a distinct religion.Robert Zaehner (1997), Encyclopedia of the World's Religions, Barnes & Noble Publishing, {{ISBN|978-0760707128}}, page 409Julius Lipner states that the custom of distinguishing between Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, and Sikhs is a modern phenomena, but one that is a convenient abstraction.Julius J. Lipner (2009), Hindus: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices, 2nd Edition, Routledge, {{ISBN|978-0415456777}}, pages 17-18 Distinguishing Indian traditions is a fairly recent practice, states Lipner, and is the result of "not only Western preconceptions about the nature of religion in general and of religion in India in particular, but also with the political awareness that has arisen in India" in its people and a result of Western influence during its colonial history.

Hindu nationalism

Christophe Jaffrelot states that modern Hindu nationalism was born in Maharashtra, in the 1920s, as a reaction to the Islamic Khilafat Movement wherein Indian Muslims championed and took the cause of the Turkish Ottoman sultan as the Caliph of all Muslims, at the end of the World War I.Gail Minault (1982), The Khilafat Movement: Religious Symbolism and Political Mobilization in India, Columbia University Press, {{ISBN|978-0231050722}}, pages 1-11 and Preface section Hindus viewed this development as one of divided loyalties of Indian Muslim population, of pan-Islamic hegemony, and questioned whether Indian Muslims were a part of an inclusive anti-colonial Indian nationalism. The Hindu nationalism ideology that emerged, states Jeffrelot, was codified by Savarkar while he was a political prisoner of the British colonial empire.Christophe Jaffrelot (2007), Hindu Nationalism: A Reader, Princeton University Press, {{ISBN|978-0691130989}}, pages 13-15Amalendu Misra (2004), Identity and Religion, SAGE Publications, {{ISBN|978-0761932260}}, pages 148-188Chris Bayly traces the roots of Hindu nationalism to the Hindu identity and political independence achieved by the Maratha confederacy, that overthrew the Islamic Mughal empire in large parts of India, allowing Hindus the freedom to pursue any of their diverse religious beliefs and restored Hindu holy places such as Varanasi.CA Bayly (1985), The pre-history of communialism? Religious conflict in India 1700-1860, Modern Asian Studies, Vol. 19, No. 2, pages 186-187, 177-203 A few scholars view Hindu mobilisation and consequent nationalism to have emerged in the 19th century as a response to British colonialism by Indian nationalists and neo-Hinduism gurus.Christophe Jaffrelot (2007), Hindu Nationalism: A Reader, Princeton University Press, {{ISBN|978-0691130989}}, pages 6-7Antony Copley (2000), Gurus and their followers: New religious reform movements in Colonial India, Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|978-0195649581}}, pages 4-5, 24-27, 163-164Hardy, F. "A radical assessment of the Vedic heritage" in Representing Hinduism: The Construction of Religious and National Identity, Sage Publ., Delhi, 1995. Jaffrelot states that the efforts of Christian missionaries and Islamic proselytizers, during the British colonial era, each of whom tried to gain new converts to their own religion, by stereotyping and stigmatising Hindus to an identity of being inferior and superstitious, contributed to Hindus re-asserting their spiritual heritage and counter cross examining Islam and Christianity, forming organisations such as the Hindu Sabhas (Hindu associations), and ultimately a Hindu-identity driven nationalism in the 1920s.Christophe Jaffrelot (2007), Hindu Nationalism: A Reader, Princeton University Press, {{ISBN|978-0691130989}}, pages 13The colonial era Hindu revivalism and mobilisation, along with Hindu nationalism, states Peter van der Veer, was primarily a reaction to and competition with Muslim separatism and Muslim nationalism. The successes of each side fed the fears of the other, leading to the growth of Hindu nationalism and Muslim nationalism in the Indian subcontinent.Peter van der Veer (1994), Religious Nationalism: Hindus and Muslims in India, University of California Press, {{ISBN|978-0520082564}}, pages 11-14, 1-24 In the 20th century, the sense of religious nationalism grew in India, states van der Veer, but only Muslim nationalism succeeded with the formation of the West and East Pakistan (later split into Pakistan and Bangladesh), as "an Islamic state" upon independence.Peter van der Veer (1994), Religious Nationalism: Hindus and Muslims in India, University of California Press, {{ISBN|978-0520082564}}, pages 31, 99, 102BOOK, Jawad Syed, Edwina Pio, Tahir Kamran et al, Faith-Based Violence and Deobandi Militancy in Pakistan,weblink 2016, Palgrave Macmillan, 978-1-349-94966-3, 49â50, BOOK, Farahnaz Ispahani, Purifying the Land of the Pure: A History of Pakistan's Religious Minorities,weblink 2017, Oxford University Press, 978-0-19-062167-4, 28â37, Religious riots and social trauma followed as millions of Hindus, Jains, Buddhists and Sikhs moved out of the newly created Islamic states and resettled into the Hindu-majority post-British India.Peter van der Veer (1994), Religious Nationalism: Hindus and Muslims in India, University of California Press, {{ISBN|978-0520082564}}, pages 26-32, 53-54 After the separation of India and Pakistan in 1947, the Hindu nationalism movement developed the concept of Hindutva in second half of the 20th century.Ram-Prasad, C. "Contemporary political Hinduism" in Blackwell companion to Hinduism, Blackwell Publishing, 2003. {{ISBN|0-631-21535-2}}The Hindu nationalism movement has sought to reform Indian laws, that critics say attempts to impose Hindu values on India's Islamic minority. Gerald Larson states, for example, that Hindu nationalists have sought a uniform civil code, where all citizens are subject to the same laws, everyone has equal civil rights, and individual rights do not depend on the individual's religion.GJ Larson (2002), Religion and Personal Law in Secular India: A Call to Judgment, Indiana University Press, {{ISBN|978-0253214805}}, pages 55-56 In contrast, opponents of Hindu nationalists remark that eliminating religious law from India poses a threat to the cultural identity and religious rights of Muslims, and people of Islamic faith have a constitutional right to Islamic shariah-based personal laws.John Mansfield (2005), The Personal Laws or a Uniform Civil Code?, in Religion and Law in Independent India (Editor: Robert Baird), Manohar, {{ISBN|978-8173045882}}, page 121-127, 135-136, 151-156 A specific law, contentious between Hindu nationalists and their opponents in India, relates to the legal age of marriage for girls. Hindu nationalists seek that the legal age for marriage be eighteen that is universally applied to all girls regardless of their religion and that marriages be registered with local government to verify the age of marriage. Muslim clerics consider this proposal as unacceptable because under the shariah-derived personal law, a Muslim girl can be married at any age after she reaches puberty.Sylvia Vatuk (2013), Adjudicating Family Law in Muslim Courts (Editor: Elisa Giunchi), Routledge, {{ISBN|978-0415811859}}, pages 52-53Hindu nationalism in India, states Katharine Adeney, is a controversial political subject, with no consensus about what it means or implies in terms of the form of government and religious rights of the minorities.Katharine Adeney and Lawrence Saez (2005), Coalition Politics and Hindu Nationalism, Routledge, {{ISBN|978-0415359818}}, pages 98-114

Demographics

File:Hinduism percent population in each nation World Map Hindu data by Pew Research.svg|thumb|upright=1.8|(Hinduism]] by country, worldmap (estimate 2010).Pew Research Center, Washington DC, Religious Composition by Country (December 2012) (2012))

Indonesia}}|pop4=10,000,000|ref4=Indonesia: Religious Freedoms Report 2010, US State Department (2011), Quote: "The Ministry of Religious Affairs estimates that 10 million Hindus live in the country and account for approximately 90 percent of the population in Bali. Hindu minorities also reside in Central and East Kalimantan, the city of Medan (North Sumatra), South and Central Sulawesi, and Lombok (West Nusa Tenggara). Hindu groups such as Hare Krishna and followers of the Indian spiritual leader Sai Baba are present in small numbers. Some indigenous religious groups, including the "Naurus" on Seram Island in Maluku Province, incorporate Hindu and animist beliefs, and many have also adopted some Protestant teachings."

Pakistan}}|pop5=3,885,000

Population by religion {{webarchive>url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060617205811weblink |date=17 June 2006 }}

{{Citation |first=Kripa |last=Sridharan |chapter=Grasping the Nettle: Indian Nationalism and Globalization | title=Nationalism and globalization: east and west | editor=Leo Suryadinata | year=2000 | ISBN=978-981-230-078-2 |publisher=Institute of Southeast Asian Studies |pp=294â318 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eEcHhROO_qUC&pg=PA310 | quote=... The term Hindutva equates religious and national identity: an Indian is a Hindu ... 'the Indian Muslims are not aliens ethnically. They are flesh of our flesh and blood of our blood' ...}}

{{citation |last=Sharma |first=Arvind |authorlink=Arvind Sharma |chapter=The Hermeneutics of the word "Religion" and Its Implications for the World of Indian Religions |editor1-last=Sherma |editor1-first=Rita |editor2-last=Sharma |editor2-first=Arvind |title=Hermeneutics and Hindu Thought: Toward a Fusion of Horizons |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x4eXRvwyvtMC&pg=PA31 |year=2008 |publisher=Springer Science & Business Media |isbn=978-1-4020-8192-7 |pp=19â32}}

Further reading

BOOK, Dass, Baboo Ishuree, Domestic manners and customs of the Hindoos of northern India, or, more strictly speaking, of the north west provinces of India.,weblink 1860, Medical Hall Press, Benares, harv,